SikhsIndia - Online Sikh News Channel : A wake up call for the Sikh Community with Sikh news, views, images, videos for the sikhs around the world. Links are being provided at the bottom of each news item with sole aim to generate awareness on SIKH ISSUES.

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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The world’s largest democratic election ever is set to be very exciting ;taking place in India.From April 7 until May 12,India votes to determine the membership of a new parliament.This election is reflective of major shifts in Indian politics and society over the last couple of years.

His Excellency Manjeev Singh Puri,the Indian Ambassador to Belgium and the EU (since January 2014 ),gave a distinguished lecture titled 'The Indian Elections of April/May 2014'in Leuven(KU Leuven,,Belgium) on 25th April,2014.

The Sikh community brought colour to the streets of Torrevieja at the weekend as they joined to celebrate the community fiesta ' Nagar Kirtan ' with a party and parade attracting hundreds of participants from provinces all over the region.

The festival is a Sikh custom involving the processional singing of holy hymns throughout a community bringing the message of God to the doorstep of the community. It is very common for Nagar Kirtans to take place wherever Sikhs live. They take place all over the globe.

The festival once again demonstrated the multi ethnicity of the city, described by city officials as the best antidote to promote healthy living among the melting pot that it constitutes.

The Indian community who follow the Sikh religion celebrate ' Nagar Kirtan ' every year with a colorful parade which tours the town inviting residents to better understand their traditions and their customs.

Sunday’s initiative was organised by the Sikh community of Torrevieja in collaboration with the City and the Association of Immigrants.

It began at the Sikh temple of Torrevieja , located in the industrial estate Casagrande , where several hundred people attended the launch. The parade then moved through the streets of the town to the Paseo Vista Alegre. During the tour, the organizers offered food and drink to spectators and to anyone who wanted to find out more about the procession and the ceremony.with thanks : theleader : LINK : for detailed news.

The plaque showing the spot where Khushwant Singh’s ashes were placed.

A fistful of ashes of legendary writer Khushwant Singh were placed at his school in Hadali, 12km from Khushab city.

Noted Pakistani writer Fakir Syed Aijazuddin had brought the ashes from India to honour the great man’s desire to be “reunited with his roots”.

He placed the ashes in a wall niche at the Government Boys High School, Hadali, where Singh was enrolled as a child. The niche was then covered by a marble plaque which read: “This is where my roots are. I have nourished them with tears of nostalgia.”

In the excited crowd gathered for the ceremony were the headmaster and teachers of the school who had met Mr Singh on his visit to Hadali in 1987.

“A large number of Hadalians turned up in 1987 to welcome Khushwant Singh at his hometown. He addressed us and said ‘as you people go on pilgrimage to Makkah and Madina, coming back to Hadali at the time of Maghreb of my life is my Haj and my Umrah’,” Muhammad Farooq Rana, the headmaster of the school, recalled while talking to Dawn.

The headmaster told a group of students inquisitively looking at the plaque: “Mr Singh was a member of the alumni who rose to fame for his writings. He was also the promoter of peace between India and Pakistan.”

Born in 1915 in Hadali, Khushwant Singh, perhaps India’s most widely read and controversial writer, died on March 20.

Singh was witness to all major events in modern Indian history — from independence and partition to the emergency and Operation Blue Star — and had known many of the figures who shaped it.

It was reported after his death that “a fistful of his ashes had been saved by his family to be taken to Pakistan where an unnamed friend wanted to put them in the ground where he was born”.

After Singh’s death, his son was quoted as saying that condolence messages had kept coming from Pakistan. “I have got a lot of phone calls from people in Pakistan, many of whom I don’t know at all. They had come here and met my dad".

“So we kept some ashes. He will be coming to India and he will take those ashes back,” he said, without revealing the identity of Singh’s Pakistani friend.

That man has turned out to be Fakir Aijazuddin, well known for writings, mainly on history and culture.

“Mr Singh has as many admirers in Pakistan as he does in India. Perhaps this was another reason for his deep attachment to Pakistan and his origin,” Mr Aijazuddin told Dawn after the ceremony.

“When I met Khushwant Singh in Delhi on March 4 this year he expressed a wish to be buried in Hadali. His family agreed to make available a fistful of ashes which I then brought to Pakistan".

“While installing the marble plaque I felt Khushwant Singh’s invisible presence. It was almost as if he had crossed the border with me to be present at Hadali.”

Monday, April 28, 2014

"I thought I would start my speech by addressing you as the “new” family of my daughter. But I think it would be inappropriate because now that she is married, you are “the family” for her. Believe me; I don’t have a problem with that. but just a request - please keep her happy!

I am more than sure that you will keep her very happy. She will perhaps be happier than what she used to be here. But like all fathers, I obsess over my daughter’s happiness which is making me say this over and over again- please keep her happy!

She never was and will never be a burden for me. She is in fact the reason why I breathe and smile. I am getting her married because this is what the law of nature demands. I am helpless in the face of our culture and therefore sending her to your home. She was the happiness of my home and will now light up your home. I am giving my world to you. Please make sure it remains beautiful. I am giving away my princess to you. Please make sure she stays as a queen. I have raised her with my sweat and blood and now she is wonderfully perfect. For all the care, love, beauty and warmth my daughter will bring into your lives, I just want her happiness in return—please keep her happy!

She is very fragile.handle her with love. If at times she feels low, be with her. She just needs a little bit of your attention. If at times she feels sick, show her some care. It’s the medicine that works best for her; empathize with her. She is still learning. Do understand her—please keep her happy!

I don’t mind if I don’t get to see her for months. I don’t mind if I am not able to talk to her on a daily basis. I would be more than happy if she doesn't remember me much. But, my only motive in life has been my daughter’s happiness -please keep her happy.

Dear son-in-law, these words may not mean much to you now but if you are LUCKY enough to father a daughter someday, you will appreciate them better when you will find every beat of your heart shouting – “PLEASE KEEP HER HAPPY” !

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Residents in Brampton are expressing anger over a flyer being distributed throughout the city targeting the Sikh community.

The flyer, distributed by the organization Immigration Watch Canada, is titled “The Changing Face of Brampton,” and features two images -- the top photo shows a group of mostly white people, while the bottom photo shows a group of Sikhs.

“Is this really what you want? Let’s make immigration work for the interests of Canadians again!” the flyer says below the second photo.

On the afternoon of March 4, 2011, Sikh grandfathers Surinder Singh and his friend Gurmej Atwal were taking a break from their daily walk along East Stockton Boulevard when they were shot. Singh, 67, died at the scene, while Atwal, 78, succumbed to his wounds six weeks later.

The case, which was investigated as a possible hate crime by the U.S. Department of Justice,drew national attention. The victims’ families and others believed that the two men were targeted by a gunman who saw them as Muslim because they wore thick beards and turbans.

“It’s this one unsolved homicide left in the city of Elk Grove,” said Detective Kevin Papineau, who has worked the case from the beginning.

But Monday, he was hopeful that a re-enactment of the crime that was being filmed by a local production company, Jackson Inc., may breathe new life into the case.

“It’s one more opportunity for us to reach out to the community that we haven’t touched before,” he said. “It can be tremendously helpful if it gets us that one tip that we are looking for.”

Jackson Inc. is the creation of two brothers,Cory Jackson, 43, and Craig Jackson, 40, both of Sacramento. The company is working on a half-hour show similar to “America’s Most Wanted” that would air on Sacramento-area broadcast channels and focus on local unsolved crimes.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

A new blog has been launched by Mr Vohra offering latest news & information on the Property & Real Estate. If you have any interest in it, please log on to the new web blog, FLOURISHING PROPERTY i.e. www.flourishingproperty.blogspot.inYou can also subscribe the Flourishing Property Free News Letter. Please log on to :www.flourishingproperty.blogspot.in

Bollywood and bhangra dance, storytelling and Indian-inspired art will bring the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi to Leamington on Saturday (April 26).

The Pump Room, working the the Sikh Community Centre in Leamington, Birmingham-based south Asian arts organisation Sampad and Warwick District Council, is hosting a celebration to mark the religious festival - which is the start of the Sikh new year and harvest festival and commemorates the year Sikhism was establised as a collective faith. It is celebrated across northern India and is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calender.

Starting at noon, the celebrations will include Bollywood and Bhangra dance performances and workshops and a theatrical storytelling about the birth of the Sikh religion and the story of the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Gobind and his escape from prison.

Amritsar, April 21 (IANS) Facing criticism from the ruling Akali Dal and other Sikh groups for defending Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Monday said he had not given a clean chit to the Congress leader.

Amarinder Singh, who is the Congress candidate from the Amritsar Lok Sabha consituency and faces Bharatiya Janata Party's Arun Jaitley, said: "I am nobody to give clean chit to anyone, including Jagdish Tytler, as it is for the courts to decide."

"I had only stated what I had heard from the people immediately after the riots broke out in New Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984."

The former chief minister is facing criticism for his remarks to a news channel in which he said that while other Congress leaders were involved in the anti-Sikh riots, Tytler was not.

Describing the riots as "most tragic and gruesome", Amarinder Singh said he had gone around many camps of Sikh refugees in Delhi for four days when riots broke out but nobody had mentioned Jagdish Tytler's name during the visit.

A sting operation carried out by a news portal on Tuesday claimed that the government had failed to take action to stop the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and senior police officers “colluded” with the then government to teach Sikhs a “lesson.”

In an undercover investigation, Cobrapost interviewed eight officers of Delhi police, some of them admitting to their failure as a force, while others confessing that the top brass of the police force colluded with the then Congress government to teach Sikhs 'a lesson'.

The streets of Surrey, B.C., were lined with tens of thousands of people for the city's Vaisakhi Parade Saturday, and amid the the day's food booths and other festivities, one group was trying to reach the South Asian community with a serious message.

Instead of giving things away in the tradition of Vaisakhi, volunteers with the Amar Karma Organ Donation Society spent the day asking people to sign up to give life.

The not-for-profit group is trying to raise awareness among South Asians about the need for organ donation. It is a community in which superstitions about the practice remain.

"It's our preconceived ideas about how organ donations work," said campaign manager Loveen Kaur Gill. "People even think, if I sign up, what will happen in my next birth?"

Gill says the participation rate in the South Asian community is among the lowest in Canada when it comes to registering for organ donation.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has already given a green signal to the proposal that makes it compulsory for women to wear a helmet while riding on a two-wheeler. Since the Model Code of Conduct is in place in the capital, a go-ahead from the Election Commission has been sought by the Delhi transport department to take into account the recommendations and grievances of the common public in this regard.

After getting permission from the Election Commission, the opinion of the common public in this matter would be duly mulled over upon.

Necessary amendments would be then made in the Delhi Motor Vehicle Act to make it obligatory for every woman to put on helmet while driving or sitting on a two-wheeler.

According to the Central Motor Vehicle Act, all the two-wheeler riders and pillions are obliged to put on helmets while driving. Only Sikhs with uncut hairs do not come under this rule.

In 1993, during the tenure of Sahib Singh-led BJP government in Delhi, Sikh women were given permission to ride on a two-wheeler without a helmet following strong protests from the Sikh community at that time.

Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (DSGPC) president Manjit Singh GK has written a letter to Jung, urging him to allow Sikh women to drive or sit on a two-wheeler without the obligation of wearing a helmet.

In his letter to Jung, GK also referred to amendments made by Sahib Singh Verma-led government in the Delhi Motor Vehicle Act in 1993.

The DSGPC president also urged Jung to allow only elected representatives of the public to make any kind of amendments in this act. He added the basic principles of the Sikh religion does not approve of any kind of cap.

Several Baptist Sikh women wear ‘dumaalas’ (religious turban) on their heads and their heads have to be covered with heavy ‘chunni’ everytime, therefore it is not possible for them to put on helmets, GK wrote in his letter.

GK added that the decision to wear a helmet or not should be left on a Sikh woman’s prerogative.